Beyond the duck: 10 ways to make your Aylesbury business fly
Article topics
- Create an interactive website tool
- Replace static content with videos
- Incorporate user-generated content
- Introduce a loyalty programme
- Start a blog
- Launch a flash sale
- Run a social media competition
- Implement a chatbot
- Host a webinar
- Show customers what happens behind the scenes
Did you know Aylesbury is well-known for its ducks?
The town bred Aylesbury ducks in the 18th and 19th centuries, with farmers walking their ducks 40 miles to London – staying at inns with specially-built yards along the way!
While duck breeding is not as popular today, other industries in and around Aylesbury have flourished, with Arla Foods, Babcock International, and Caswell Maintenance Services roosting in the town.
Based in Aylesbury and want to promote your business? Here are ten innovative ways to use both digital and traditional marketing to make your company stand out from the flock.
1. Create an interactive website tool
An interactive website tool is a feature on your website that encourages users to actively engage with your business. This could be a calculator, quiz, poll, or even a game.
A tool can encourage customers to stay on your website, increasing the chances of them making a purchase or asking for a quote. Even if they’re not ready to buy just yet, you can capture their contact details and send them emails, nurturing them until they’re ready to convert.
Plus, with the rise of AI Overviews in Google, an interactive tool can entice customers to click through to your website, rather than staying put in the search engine results.
According to Outgrow, interactive content generates five times as many views and twice as many conversions as static content.
Which type of interactive content is best for your business? It depends on what you sell, who your target audience is, and what your goals are. For example, if you run an accountancy firm
like Probitts & Co, you can offer calculators that help people work out how much VAT and stamp Duty they owe.
Top tip: Don’t forget to promote your interactive content once you’ve created it. For example, you can advertise it on social media and in your email campaigns, as well as on relevant pages of your website.
2. Replace static content with videos
If you’re looking for a quick win to boost your conversion rates, using videos on your website and other marketing channels is a great strategy.
Videos are engaging, easy to view, and easy to understand. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video, compared to just 10% when reading a piece of content.
Plus, videos are a lot easier to create than they were in the past. You can record a short, engaging piece of content on your phone, edit it with free software, and you’re ready to upload it to the channel of your choice!
Ocean Wave, a fish and chip shop in the town, is well-loved for its TikTok feed, showcasing all the different foods on offer as well as reviews from happy customers.
If you’re stuck for inspiration, why not consider:
- Turning your most popular blog post or social media article into a short video
- Answering questions your customers may have (take a look at your emails and chat logs to see what they’re asking)
- Making a video testimonial or case study
- Creating behind-the-scenes footage of your business (we’ll talk about this in more detail later)
Top tip: Always add captions to your videos. This helps you adhere to accessibility guidelines and appeal to a wider audience. Three out of four people watch mobile videos on mute!
3. Incorporate user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is content that is created by your customers. This could be anything from a photo or a video to a blog post or a review.
UGC builds trust and shows prospective customers that you’re a credible and reliable business. 80% of people say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions.
Another fantastic benefit of UGC is that it’s low-cost. Rather than spending money and resources creating your own content, you’re using other people’s.
Top tip: Don’t forget to ask for permission before using people’s UGC on your marketing channels. The good news is that over 70% of customers are happy to let you use their content if you ask.
4. Introduce a loyalty programme
Your existing customers are an untapped resource. Treat them well, and they’re more likely not only to buy more, but also to recommend you to others.
A brilliant way to encourage customers to engage with you is through implementing a loyalty programme. This is when you offer rewards for making repeat purchases.
The type of loyalty scheme you offer will depend on your business, the products and services you sell, and what your customers want to receive. For example, Hartwell Nurseries offers one penny back for every pound spent, as well as every eighth coffee free in its tearoom.
Top tip: If you only have a small budget, you don’t have to offer massive perks to appeal to customers. For example, if you operate a brick-and-mortar store you can let loyalty scheme customers use your WiFi.
5. Start a blog
Starting a blog for your business may feel like a lot of additional work, but it can bring a wide range of benefits.
A blog lets you rank for additional keywords, increasing the chances of your business appearing on the first page of the search engine results. And given that over 94% of all clicks are given to the top ten search results in Google, the higher you can rank, the better.
Starting a blog also allows you to showcase your expertise and experience in your industry, meaning you can show customers why they should trust you over your competitors.
Here are some tips for ensuring your blog is a valuable source of information for customers, while making it as easy to manage as possible:
- Establish a content calendar – this will help you stick to a posting schedule and ensure everyone in the business knows what they need to do
- Use the pillar pages and topic cluster model to identify topic ideas
- Link to high-quality external sites and sources of information in your articles to show your credibility
- Repurpose your articles to get maximum value from them. For example, you can break up articles into social media posts and videos
- Regularly go back to your articles and update them to make sure they’re always fresh and relevant
Top tip: Need some inspiration for your blog? See what your competitors are talking about online and create content that’s even better!
6. Launch a flash sale
A flash sale is when you sell products and services at a substantial discount for a short period of time. For example, Hogshaw Farm used a flash sale to appeal to parents looking for things to do during the summer holidays.
Flash sales are highly powerful as they generate the fear of missing out (FOMO), encouraging customers to take action before they run out of time. According to Experian, flash sale emails offer twice the transaction rates of other offers, with three-hour flash sales proving most popular with customers.
They’re also a good strategy if you operate an eCommerce store and you want to get rid of certain products and free up storage space.
Top tip: While they’re powerful, it’s essential to use flash sales sparingly. If you run them too often, people may think you’re selling low-quality products and services. You may also end up appealing to fickle bargain hunters rather than loyal customers.
Encourage customer reviews
A social media competition is a fun, low-cost way to raise awareness of your brand, drive traffic to your site, and create fresh user-generated content.
It can generate new audiences across your social media accounts too – on average, each competition leads to a 34% increase in followers.
You can even use influencers and paid social media ads to amplify your reach even further.
Top tip: If you do run a social media competition, it’s essential to be aware of the rules to make sure you don’t violate the terms and conditions of the social media platform you use.
For example, on Facebook, you can’t ask participants to share, repost, or tag others as a condition of entry.
8. Implement a chatbot
If you have a business, no doubt your customers will have a lot of questions.
What time does your store open? When will my order arrive? Which product is right for my needs?
A chatbot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer these questions for you, meaning you have more time to run your business. Another benefit is that because chatbots operate 24/7, you can respond to customers outside of working hours.
According to Juniper Research, each chatbot query saves about four minutes and up to £0.53. If you get a lot of customer queries online, this can have a significantly positive effect on your business.
Top tip: While a chatbot can help you save time and increase conversions on your website, it’s still essential to have a person working behind the scenes.
That way, if someone asks a question your chatbot can’t answer, it can escalate it to a member of your team.
9. Host a webinar
Webinars are a low-cost way to generate leads, encourage customers to engage with your business, and demonstrate that you’re a trustworthy and knowledgeable source of information. In fact, B2B marketers rank webinars as the second-best-performing content format there is, only slightly behind in-person events.
You may think it’s not worth your time hosting a webinar as you may not get a lot of viewers, especially if you’re only targeting Aylesbury residents. However, remember that it’s all about the quality of the leads you generate, not the quantity.
Top tip: If you’re not confident you can manage a webinar on your own, partner up with another business in a similar niche. For example, if you’re a florist, you could run your webinar with a wedding photographer.
Another benefit of this is that you can reach a wider audience of prospective customers.
10. Show customers what happens behind the scenes
Behind-the-scenes content, whether on social media or your website, shows customers that you’re human and authentic. It also lets you share your story and helps customers understand your values.
This content can include:
- ‘A day in the life’ of an employee or a product
- Interviews with employees, suppliers, and stakeholders
- Tours of your office, store, or building
- Sneak peaks of new products or services
- Backstage footage of an event
Locally-based brand Arla Foods does an amazing job of promoting this type of content. As well as showing its televised commercials on its website, it also shares behind-the-scenes footage for each commercial.
Top tip: Encourage your employees to create their own content to showcase your brand. This not only provides customers with a behind-the-scenes look at your business, but also empowers your staff and shows that you trust them.
Don’t wing your digital marketing: Call on the experts
Investing time and resources in your digital marketing strategy can lead to improved brand awareness, increased revenue, and happier, more loyal customers.
If you’re not sure where to start, hiring an award-winning digital marketing agency can help.
We can handle all of your digital marketing and eCommerce needs, from improving the user experience on your website to managing your email marketing campaigns.
And best of all, as we’re based in nearby Bedford, we can be at your office, store, or factory in just a shake of a duck’s tail! Get in touch with us today, and let’s get quacking on growing your business.
Get in touch with us today, and let’s get quacking on growing your business.
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